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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Formula E: First Race!

Have you heard of Formula E racing? If not, check out their website at this link: Forumla E

While most auto racing is focused on huge horsepower, high speed, and thrilling performance created by burning a lot of gasoline, Formula E will be state of the art high performance electric cars. These cars will not be electric cars that are already available, but full on race cars with bodies built by Dallara, the makers of Indy and other race cars. Some of the other heavy hitters and big names in auto racing are also supplying parts and expertise to this series, such as F1 companies Williams Advanced Engineering providing the batteries, and electric power trains coming from McLaren. Tires will be provided by Michelin, so with standardized chassis and other components you can see why it's a "Formula" type of race, meaning all cars have to meet the same specifications. Throw in technical partner Renault and there are some serious players behind this new series!

Formula E plans on holding ten races in cities such as Miami, Long Beach, London, Berlin, and the opening race this weekend in Beijing China. Each race day will have two practice sessions, qualifying, and then the race. With the time difference from here to China (without drilling through the center of the Earth), you can tune in on Fox Sports1 at 3:30AM this Saturday for live coverage, or sleep in and watch the rebroadcast on Sunday from 1-2PM. If nothing else, remember our favorite website for tracking motor sports on tv: www.TVRacer.com

Several of the twenty drivers are experienced in Formula 1, Indy Car, and other top level racing, such as Bruno Senna, Nick Heidfeld, and Jarno Trulli. With two drivers in each of ten teams, it should make for an interesting season. According to the website, there will be a race about once a month from now into next summer. The Long Beach race will be in California on April 4th 2015 with free admission, so it looks like they are working hard to bring this new electric racing to fans.

To be honest I've just learned way more about Formula E by spending some time on their website for a few minutes than I'd heard anywhere else, so now it's starting to sound interesting. Why not check it out?